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Wednesday, 19 August 2015

MSU Elves in KoW - possible?

Greetings!

I continue with some KoW rumblings as I try to prepare for my first game in the new system. I would love to transfer the style I used so far in WHFB, i.e. Multiple Small Units = MSU. I am aware that it may not be easy or even remotely similar to what I have experienced so far but it is as good point to begin as usual. We will see soon enough (I hope) if my assumptions were correct or where they need to be re-evaluated.

KoW - Army List Building

KoW
has, as I am sure I have mentioned already, their unique way of army
list building. It evolves around regiments and hordes as the core of the
force. You can take as many as you want for agreed point allowance. The
trick lies in the fact that other elements you want to take for the
army, troops, characters, monsters, war machines, have to be unlocked
with regiments or hordes.

This creates a very interesting
situation where you really have to get some regiments/hordes in and no
matter what you do the army does look like an army. It actually have
plenty of units.

Now the challenge lies in choosing the right
balance for your own preference and style. I am not yet sure what the
styles are going to be like in KoW but at least that is the assumption.

The
first question then is regiments or hordes or maybe a mix of these?
Regiments have smaller foot print, are cheaper than the horde but
obviously have fewer attacks and lower nerve value. Single regiment
unlocks two troops and one character or a war machine or a monster. If
you buy horde it costs you more than a regiment but gives you better
attacks and nerve value and unlocks four troops and a character and a
war machine and a monster.

However, there is a very important
difference. The abilities do not scale linearly. What I mean by that is
that 2 regiments will cost more than a single horde despite visually
consisting of the same number of models. The number of attacks may not
be twice as high and the nerve value is not doubled. Horde still allows
you to buy one more element than 2 regiments. This makes the choice much
different and more difficult for a beginner I think but nonetheless
still exciting.

Do I want more stable horde but risk being
charged by more units at the same time? Do I take regiments for extra
deployment drop that potentially may be still negated by extra element
horde unlocks? Or do I take a mix of both and use these as a team
anyway?

Personally, I prefer smaller units, due to the style I prefer and which I hope to transfer in some form to KoW.

MSU in KoW - is that even possible?

In
WHFB I relied on larger number of units to create advantageous
deployment. More units allowed for more mobility and swarming tactics
where I could defeat potentially stronger enemy if the attack was
executed with many units at the same time.

Is this or similar
approach still possible to be developed in KoW? I definitely hope so but
there are things I have to consider to take into account.

1. Armies

I
mentioned before that in KoW due to their unique composition system
armies look like armies. At 2000 points there are often 10+ elements in
the opposing army anyway. In addition to the difficulty of out deploying
the opponent their formation will not leave any obvious gaps and moving
around or isolating units might not be that easy (more on it later).

This
means that I need to re-define the deployment phase to be able to still
use it to my advantage. I have some initial ideas but I will need to
play some games first to see how they should work in details.

2. Movement

Movement
is very important in KoW. But it also works in a way that is not easy
to master as you either maneuver or move fast. With tough battle lines
there might be no gap to exploit, especially that the units do not
change formation in this game.

However, there might be some options worthy exploring that affect movement and allow for greater mobility.

Flying
units/characters can be very useful in jumping over the enemy lines and
be ready to strike their flanks or rear. I don't intend to field Drake
Riders yet (no models and I seem to "hate" dragons due to abundance of
these in late 8th edition as well as betrayal in background stories,
i.e. End Times - Khaine :-P). But Griffon Riders as Drake Lords can be a good option here.

Another
option is to use Nimble units, this special rule allows the unit to
make an extra pivot in addition to what is normally allowed.

Vanguard
and Pathfinder are other special rules that aid you in the deployment
and movement phases. Vanguard is the extra advance before the game
starts while Pathfinder ignores certain terrain effects.

3. Shooting

I
mentioned earlier that shooting can destroy enemy units but it can also
make them waver or add some damage points. I think it is a perfect
solution for me as I would be able to inflict some damage at a distance
thus making it easier for my combat troops to actually rout their
enemies. It will probably take some practice to learn how to implement
it properly but I am looking forward to using shooting for such purpose
more than to inflict damage.

4. Melee

Now
that is the most important part as all the movement will actually lead
towards this moment. Attacking from the flank or from many directions at
the same time should do the trick as always. After all, doubling or
tripling the attacks greatly encourages you to do it.

If well
executed it might mean the enemy is eliminated with no damage on the
part of my own units. However, I noticed that with more units on the
enemy side and the game mechanics of KoW system that one should expect
some kind of retaliation anyway. You don't overrun that far to avoid the
enemy after destroying units. So you might still be visible for the
remaining foes. Or when you reform after the victorious melee.

I
believe that I will need to learn to estimate where the units can be in
a few turns ahead, as it used to be in WHFB, but it will take a few
games to get the feeling of it simply because the regiments move
differently. And while I observed that breaking enemy battle line
formation can be advantageous as expected it is often far from over. I
witnessed some games where the end result was still a draw despite one
army being initially overwhelmed by the enemy. I attribute it mainly to
the fact that units do accumulate the damage over the battle.

With
all these in mind I think I will simply need to shift my attention to
deployment and movement even more than I used to and learn how to play
against other armies with quite a large number of units. I think that
the concept of MSU may be transferred to KoW but it might not be as
easily distinguishable as in WHFB. I also prepared a second version of
the army I consider to use for some initial games:

Both
armies have 14 elements which might not be that great but for Elite
army is not too bad either (I think). I took Hunters regiment for that
Vanguard and Pathfinder and while they are not Elite they have 25
attacks. I decided to take infantry regiments as they are slower and
might take more damage on the way. At the same time I upgraded BSB to
Drakon Lord for another inspire source but also to have an additional
flier. He is not crazy with his 5 attacks but if on a flank or rear it
might be quite a problem if the attack is coordinated with other troops.

Last
but not least, here is the picture to visualize how the armies look
like, with my MSU force from 8th edition for comparison. Please, take
into account that the armies in KoW are only 2000 points.

4 comments:

A very interesting read indeed SM. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what your mad skillz can bring to the table in KOW and I've no doubt you'll be teaching me things along the way. I'm going to give the Empire of Dust a run this weekend against my brother to get a grasp of the rules and very much looking forward to it.

Interestingly enough you missed out on one element and that is magic. Although certainly not as higher impact in KOW (certainly not a bad thing) as WFB it does however still be worthy of a mention. I'm not sure how much access you have to it however wind blast I see could be a good tool for you because you like movement so much and pushing enemy units away allowing you more shots on target or delaying them for further advantage to set up charges.

Good to see the armies from a glance look very similar but how do you feel about going to some 'big' blocks? Are you a little disappointed you can't take your infamous MSU army and totally transfer it?

Either way, looking forward to a new chapter in the journey - for both of us!

I am curious myself where this new journey is going to take us. It is completely new so whatever I think might work has to be verified. Hopefully we both will learn the ropes fast!

The fact I didn't speak about magic is an evidence to how much I need to learn :) I did look at the spells and you are correct, I like movement a lot so Wind Blast might be a good candidate here. I will think about it of course and see how to implement that to test its utility.

The tricky part, at least for me at this stage is, that you can cast just a single spell at a time. Elven wizards come equipped with Heal as a default spell and I added Bane Chant that will add Crushing Strength or Piercing to the friendly unit. Both sound great but as I have a single wizard I wonder if that wouldn't be too much to give him third spell as it would make some decisions even harder.

It is definitely one of the things to consider anyway. I think that it also shows that you can have many things but cannot have everything in the same army so you really need to find your way.

I am not disappointed at all! Just need to learn how to play in that game. Visually they look great already. It is just a matter of getting used to the fact the opposing forces are going to have quite a few units too. I think regiments will be as maneuverable as troops so I should be fine with it. And Sea Guard will look way better in 4 ranks too!

I wanted to play some games with KoW to get the feeling of the army and what I can do with the chosen units. I have a few under my belt by now so it might be a good idea to reflect back upon the initial impressions. I will try to write about my observations so far and see what comes from it :)